Tommy Smothers Says Paulsen Saved the Show

Pat Paulsen may have credited the Smothers Brothers with launching his career. But it was the late mock-presidential candidate who saved the popular Smothers Brothers Show, says the man who should know.
“Pat was probably the most recognizable and definable part of the show,” said Tommy Smothers. “If the show was a painting, he was the brightest color.”

It’s debatable who actually urged Paulsen to run for commander in chief of the free world starting in 1968 through 1996, Smothers said.

“It could have come from a whole bunch of people,” he said. “But his ’68 run was one of the best satirical things ever done in politics.”

Smothers first met Paulsen in 1959. The brothers were performing at the Purple Onion in San Francisco and the nondescript Paulsen was a stranger who approached Tommy and Dick after several performances.

“He’d say, ‘I enjoyed your show. If you want to put in my comedy, I think that would really help. But I like you guys a lot,'” recalled Smothers. “And he’d wander away.”

Paulsen repeated his encouragement that the Smothers “sing good, but the act needs comedy,” Tommy recalled, later realizing Paulsen was doing his show up the street.

“We became friends and took him on the road,” Tommy said.

Then came the popular TV show “and we’d put Pat on as much as we could,” Tommy said. “And every time we’d have a sketch that wasn’t working, we’d put in Pat or a midget.”

Looking back, Smothers said, “he was the best at deadpan comedy since Buster

Keaton. You could never break him” into smiling.
The best of Paulsen was often never seen, Smothers said.

“He had a ribald sense of humor. He’d be sitting in his car with my brother telling jokes that were just disgusting,” Tommy said. “He had this great, naughty sense of humor. He just never showed it on stage.”

When it came to physical comedy, “God, was he good,” Smothers said. “When he fell or stumbled over, he had all the moves.”

Paulsen has been missed since he died from cancer April 24, 1997.

“It was a great loss. He was the most important comedic talent I’ve met in my life,” Smothers said, grateful that Paulsen receives a Comedy Legends Award at Comedy Day in San Francisco on Sept. 28.

“I think he has been a little bit forgotten,” Smothers said. “People don’t realize how very, very smart Pat was. Though he wasn’t particularly wise in investments.”

This year’s Obama vs. McCain battle could have used Paulsen in the mix, Smothers said.

“Pat would have been great. He always had this powerful sense of commitment when he ran. There was no joke about it, though there was the joke underneath it. He never let on that it’s a joke, which is amazing. Not many could do that.”

13 responses so far ↓

I miss Pat too. I worked in Radio in Jackson, MI from 88 to 93. I had Pat on the air several times, The last time was after he had done so well in the NC Primary. He even took me out for a beverage after a show in Jackson. He was a brilliant man who understood every aspect of comedy. I remember specifically his defense of Andrew Dice Clay to another person at out table. He was able to look beneath the surface and know what Clay was really doing comedically.

He was simply the best. We miss him on so many occasions, but especially during the elections.
We think he’d have a great chance of winning this year. There is no one running who has his kind
heart and generous spirit.

Pat was one of a kind. His deadpan humor was so funny. When the camera got a close up of him speaking so seriously yet you knew he was joking was mind boggling. I couldn’t help but laugh. Pat Paulsen would most likely have been a great President. Humor takes a degree of intellegence and his humor was so unique, I know he could have handled the job extremely well…no joke. Mr. Paulson is greatly missed.

I just barely remember him on Smothers Brothers and other late ’60’s variety TV shows. The one skit I remember involved political polarization, a very scary phenomenon that continues strongly to this day.

After reading of his “ribald” and “naughty” sense of humor, it’s regrettable he didn’t live to star in “The Aristocrats.”

Pat Paulson spoke at my Junior Achievement convention in 1968. He started with how great America is and gradually built to a cresendo of emotion whipping us into mass of hysteria and ended in Heil Hitler. What a great history lesson.

Pat and the brothers were an integral part of our household. I found this and had to lift a symbolic glass of wine to toast Pat and the boys. I will always remember them as boys, the youthful enthusiasm they projected was so infectious.

Tom and I were good friends in high school and have followed their career from the beginning. Indeed Pat was the icing on the cake, in those years. My wife and I had been privileged to attend many of their personal appearances and to renew “old times”.